Fangirl
by Sandy87
Summary: A short pregame fic, detailing a possible reason for Sasha's friendliness (ha, there's an understatement) towards Ratchet.


**Fangirl**

* * *

I was bored and started thinking (a dangerous thing XD). Just random thoughts, really. Probably inspired by the fact that Sasha bears a few wierd resemblances to fuzztakus (her tail even bears a resemblance to the stripe patern I use on my own lombax self, and I've been a lombax longer than she's been a whatever-she-is :P). And by the fact that she warms up to Ratchet very quickly. Too quickly if you ask me. So, here's a possible explanation!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

"Sasha!"

"Yeah, dad?" The girl in question looked up from her book. What could he possibly want? It was bad enough to be stuck in his compound on Marcadia, as accoustomed as she was to the hum of her starship underfoot; did he have to interrupt her reading, too? It was the only thing even vaguely interesting on the planet.

"_Secret Agent Clank_'s on the Holovid!"

"Oh. Well...that's nice." She put her nose back in the book and tried to find her place again.

"Why don't you come watch it?"

"Uh...no thanks. I've, uh, I've got to finish this book...before Monday!"

The Galactic President was now standing in the door of her room. "Did anyone ever tell you you're a terrible liar?" He laughed and shook his head. "Daughter of a politician and you can't even lie. What an unsavory reputation we politicians have."

Sasha laughed nervously. "Yeah..."

"So, you going to watch _Secret Agent Clank_ with your old man?"

"Oh, why not?" There was nothing better to do. She set her book down and followed her dad back to the vid screen. She plopped down on a large couch, large enough to make a very comfortable bed.

The show itself wasn't half-bad, really. Okay, so the plot was a little like every other action movie she'd ever seen: good guy minds his own business, bad guy steals girl, bad guy lures good guy into stronghold using girl, bad guy catches good guy, bad guy rants for ten minutes, good guy escapes while bad guy rants, good guy frees girl while bad guy continues to rant, bad guy notices good guy is gone, good guy catches bad guy in his own trap, good guy and girl escape bad guy, good guy gets girl, the end.

However, the robotic agent's chaufur did manage to catch her eye just as she was beginning to nod off. He was the only organic she'd seen on the show; he must have had some nice connections to be on there when everyone else was a robot. Plus, he wasn't so terrible to look at. Sure, his outfit was goofy, but he had a bright, open face...when he wasn't glaring at Clank behind his back.

"Hey, dad, who's that?"

"Who?"

"That lombax, in the red buttler uniform."

"That's Jeeves, Secret Agent Clank's chaufur. He's a bumbling idiot," the President said, nodding with self-assurance.

"Oh." She paused a moment and added, "He's cute."

Her father blinked; his daughter made no sense to him at some times. Then again, her definition of "cute" _had_ always been a little odd. "Say, would you like me to get some popcorn?"

"You, or one of the robots around here?"

"Very perceptive of you. Har har." He reached over and ruffled her hair.

"Hey!" she laughed, batting his hand away. "Dad, you're messing up my hair." She stuck out her tongue playfully and smoothed the strands he'd misplaced. "Oh, look, show's over."

"I guess it is. You can go back to reading your book."

"Nah, I think I'll go use the computer instead. That book's kind of boring." She returned to her room and powered up her computer. A quick search on _Jeeves "Secret Agent Clank"_ produced a few irrellevant pages, but one short biography.

"So, your name's Ratchet?" she muttered to herself. "Huh. Wonder what kind of parents you had." She continued to read, her eyes widening. "This guy stopped Drek? Wow..." She remembered how, not so very many months ago, there had been reports all over the news of a Blarg taking pieces of planets and eventually being stopped by a young lombax.

Sasha became something of a fan of _Secret Agent Clank_, though not in the same sense that her dad was. She didn't talk about the show constantly; she merely watched it when her dad reminded her it was on. Of course, her reasons for watching were slightly different than his, though no one seemed to notice. The rest of the staff was merely glad that the highstrung young officer was able to find a way to occupy her time that didn't involve making herself a bookend to be vaccuumed around.

However, even with a Holovid to watch each day, that left several hours to fill. "Dad, I'm bored."

"Bored?"

"Yes, bored."

"Hmm..." The President stroked his beard in thought. "Well, what would you like to do?"

"I'd _like_ to go back to captaining the Phoenix," she said, crossing her arms and leaning against a door frame.

"But, Sasha...you know how lonesome it gets around here. My staff just isn't family, and with your mother gone..."

At that moment, one of the aids came running in. "Sorry to bother you Mr. President, but there's something I thought you might want to see." He held up a vidscreen, which began playing a news brief. A red planet, full of mountains, was under attack. Some short, strange creatures, some using mechanoid walkers, were attacking the planet. Darla Gratch, the reporter, refered to them as Tyhrranoids. "It seems Dr. ...Dr. ...Dr. Ne..."

"Who? What?" The President was thoroughly confused.

"Dr. Ne...Dr. Nef..."

"Spit it out!" Sasha snapped, her patience thinned from boredom.

"DR. NEFARIOUS!" the man finally managed. "He's returned!"

"Who?" Now it was Sasha's turn to be confused.

The President shook his head and began to follow his aid. "No time now. Get the Rangers to that planet pronto. Sasha? You get your wish after all. Go ready the Phoenix, it looks like we're going to need her."

While a matter of galactic security wasn't exactly what she'd wished for, Sasha certainly wasn't going to turn down a chance for action. The familiar engine hum under her feet, the sound of the Galactic Rangers, idiots though they were, responding to her, the sight of deep space out her window - all the things she missed on terra firma - would soon welcome her again.

Not long after she'd gotten the ship running and into a sector away from any planet's gravitational well, she recieved a communication from her dad. He explained to her the whole situation - how Nefarious had once been a menace to the galaxy and yet had been defeated by a brave man that rumor said now lived in the Florana jungles. "But don't worry!" he reassured her. "We've got the perfect guy on the job!"

"You...managed to find the guy who beat him last time?"

"Well, no...but we've got Secret Agent Clank!" Sasha rolled her eyes; didn't her dad understand that was just a show? "He's currently looking into the Florana rumors. ...Oh, and we've got his chaufur, too. I hope he doesn't mess things up..."

"I don't think he will, dad. I did a check on the guy - Ratchet, that's his name. He's the one who defeated Drek."

"Silly rumors, dear, silly rumors."

"I don't know, dad. Look at this old news report. That picture looks an awful lot like him." She sent the old report over the screen. "See?" she chirped from behind the picture now plastered on the screen.

"Hmm...I suppose so. Just the same..."

"I told you: he won't cause a problem. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say he'll be more helpful than Clank himself, judging from these reports..."

"Why, Sasha, it almost seems you have a crush on him!"

"DAD!" Her face burned, her ears felt red even under her fur. She pointed to the snickering Rangers and mouthed, "_You're embarrassing!_"

"Just checking," he replied, smiling innocently. "Anyway, you and the Phoenix are to serve as our base of operations during the fight with Nefarious. I suggest you contact Agent Clank and his...heh-heh...chaufur. Just don't get in to trouble." Sasha rolled her eyes and turned off the vidscreen.

"Ranger, power up the vidscreen again. I suppose we _should_ see about the lombax and robot." The Galactic Ranger snickered again but complied. Sasha shook her head and tried to shake the redness from her ears. She hoped her slight embarrassment wouldn't be noticeable. "This is Captain Sasha of the Starship Phoenix. The President has asked me to assist you..."


End file.
